


Of Promises Kept

by wonker8



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Missing scene in the movie, SPOILERS FOR STID
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-14
Updated: 2013-07-14
Packaged: 2017-12-20 03:46:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/882575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonker8/pseuds/wonker8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>****Spoilers for STID****</p><p>When Khan awakes again, the last thing he expects is to be asked to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Promises Kept

**Author's Note:**

> Fill for [this prompt](http://strek-id-kink.livejournal.com/2836.html?thread=1340436#t1340436) in the strek-id-kink meme.
> 
> EDIT: Now that it's not really a spoiler anymore... The reason why this story is important is... This story was originally written not only for the prompt, but also for [this chapter](http://archiveofourown.org/works/824248/chapters/1818331) of [I'll Dream You Wide Awake](http://archiveofourown.org/works/824248/). But they're both written to be stand-alones, so you don't really have to read one or the other to get the context.

His nose kicks in before his mind does. His nose smells the antibacterial cleanness of a medical facility. A smell that he's become much too accustomed to since becoming an Augment. As odd as it sounds, he relaxes at the smell. Because it's almost like he's back home with his doctors and crew, getting his weekly check up after a battle and-

Fuck.

Battle.

Then everything kicks in and his eyes flies open and yup, he's still 300 years into the future and he's strapped down to a bed. A snarl forms on his lips as he struggles against the binds, and fuck, what kind of binds did they use because it's not budging at all?! In his struggles he barely registers that his arm has been set or that all of his wounds, caused by the jump from the Vengeance and/or by that stupid Vulcan's attack, have been healed.

It's not until he hears someone clear their throat that he pauses in his efforts to get free. The doctor friend of the captain. Khan glares at him.

“Thought you might like to know that Jim kept his promise.”

Then the doctor points over and Khan's eyes slowly (reluctantly) follow them to the other side of the med-bay. And lo and be hold, there are the cryotubes with his crewmembers visibly inside. A soft gasp leaves his mouth, because this can't be the truth. Someone kept their promise? But that makes no sense. Why would anyone, especially Kirk (whose family and crew has been threatened by Khan himself), keep his promise?

“I do not understand,” Khan rasps, his voice throaty from his recent slumber. “Why...?”

“If you mean to ask me why Jim kept his promise, it's because that's a human thing to do,” the doctor gruffs. But there is more growl than bite to his words. “And if you want to know why _we_ kept the promise, it's because what the Captain promises, we keep. We aren't back-stabbing liars. If the Captain gave his word, then it's as good as the rest of us giving ours. If the brain orders it, the rest of the body has to follow through, after all.”

Khan nods slowly. So they are just like his crew, he can't help but to think. They are ready to follow their leader to their deaths, no matter what. And he thinks he can understand that. That feeling of intense loyalty and the need to protect those who has given that loyalty. He thinks that maybe, out of everyone in this time period, Jim Kirk is the one who understands him the most.

“Where is he?” he asks finally. “I wish to thank him personally. I was most disappointed when he sent his Vulcan instead of coming after me himself.”

As he speaks, his eyes do not wander from the doctor's face. The doctor's face is livid. Angry. But there's also control. Careful control that's tempered by bitterness. Bitterness and guilt.

Oh.

Khan tastes something nasty in his mouth and he knows it's not just because of his recent sleep.

“Can you...” the doctor pauses, considering his wording carefully. “Would it be alright if... Your blood. Just one vial. Could I have...?”

It's poorly formulated question but Khan gets it nonetheless. He gives the doctor a look of incredulous shock. “You mean you haven't already taken some?”

The doctor shakes his head. “Don't know how it worked in your time, but that's not how it works here. It's up to you. Would you... Would you please help me save him?”

A thick silence descends on them. The answer to the question is already in Khan's mind; he's already calculated the pros and cons of bringing the young captain from the dead. But for some odd reason, he's having trouble transmitting his thoughts to his voice box. The words wait on the tip of his tongue, but it won't budge. And instead, all he can think about is the fact that the Vulcan came after him. The Vulcan's anger. The Vulcan's logicalness washed away by fury and rage and hate.

Jim had come after him with that kind of beautiful anger, tainted by grief of losing his mentor. But the Vulcan's had been pure rage. No grief, no guilt, nothing but a simple-minded rage and the need for revenge. No control at all. He probably never felt something so intense, and allowed himself to be controlled by it.

It was odd how he compared them now. How he could see and feel Jim's punches landing on his face. How he could feel the emotions rushing through. How he could see how weak the captain became. But there was always control. Every punch, every movement, there was anger as much as there had been calculation. He was seeing how far he could push Khan, what it would take to make him react.

The Vulcan did not have any of that.

“Forget it,” the doctor says, sighing heavily. It snaps Khan out of his thoughts and he glances up. The doctor turns away, his shoulders sagging in resignation as he takes slow steps away.

“Wait,” Khan calls. And suddenly, the connection is made and the words fly out. “Take my blood! Save Jim. Don't you dare let him be buried in the ground.”

The doctor whirls around on his heels, his expression akin to someone who has been offered salvation from eternal damnation. And perhaps Khan did. Perhaps he has just saved them all.

“Allow me to help you,” Khan offers. “I can help you create a serum to save him.”

A pause. “What about everyone else who died?”

“I do not owe them anything.”

There's a contemplative look on the doctor's face. It's a test. What does the doctor consider more important? The life of his friend, his captain? Or his ethics as a doctor? If he takes this chance and brings the captain to life, then he will be turning his back to the doctor's code of saving every life. He will be refusing to save the lives they've lost, knowing full well that he could bring them back, if it comes to that.

But if he clings to his code, then this chance will be gone. He will never be able to follow his captain, serve his captain. He will lose all that it means to be on the Enterprise. His words before of being loyal would mean nothing. He will be nothing but a liar with the blood of his captain on his hands.

The doctor takes a deep breath. Then he walks over to his tools and brings a hypo over to Khan.

“I'll save Jim.”


End file.
